Dear Editor,

As a registered Democrat, I voted for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the recently concluded United States presidential election. Bernie Sanders, whom I voted for in the Democratic primary, and her got together and hammered out a platform that I liked. And when the debates are factored in, overall, I thought she was the better candidate.

Clinton lost the election not because of complacency as some would want us to believe. During the campaign she outspent billionaire, now President-elect Donald Trump by a wide margin. It was not even close. He got a lot of free air time, especially from conservative media such as

Fox News, because he was accessible to them in granting interviews.

She lost the elections on ethics and credibility issues, including the leaked private e-mail, plus people had a hard time believing her on other issues as well.

On the other hand, it is customary for a presidential candidate to release their income tax filings, but Trump refused to do. In my opinion, not paying tax is not a very smart thing to be engaged in, whether it is legal or illegal. So I’m hoping when he becomes president he will close that tax loophole.

And now that he won, does he still think that the election was rigged? I shouldn’t think so.

That said, he should be given a lot of credit, because the odds of winning were overwhelmingly against him. For example, newspaper endorsements were 57 to two in Hillary’s favour. She also had the political and Hollywood star power behind her.

A lot of people are disappointed at the result. Some are even threatening to leave the country; but in my view, they are not going anywhere. Besides, some of what Trump has said has resonated with me. Blacks and Latinos are not going to sit around and allow anyone to turn back the gains they’ve made over the years.

President-elect Trump is not a monster or the second coming of Adolph Hitler. Let’s wait and see what he is up to. As President Franklin D Roosevelt once said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Therefore, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Trump is the only Republican Presidential nominee that I’m aware of to go into a black church to seek their support. Now, how racist can that be?

He won the election fair and square, against all odds. Therefore, he should be given the chance to govern. He might just surprise us all.

I don’t have a real problem with Trump, but I do have a problem with the Republicans in both houses, who locked down the government twice and opposed and obstructed President Barack Obama for eight years, causing a lot of mayhem and gridlock in Washington.

Noel Mitchell

Westchester, New York

nlmworld@yahoo.com